Matt Layman

I’m Matt Layman.

I want to help you learn more about Django and Python. Who am I?

#SaaS
#Python
#Django

A Failed SaaS Postmortem

My Software as a Service failed. After three years of running College Conductor, I’m shutting it down. The service failed for a host of reasons, and this article details what I learned from the whole experience.

#Python
#Mass Spectometry
#science

Python Tears Through Mass Spectrometry Data

At the November 2019 Python Frederick event, Conor Jenkins showed the group how mass spectrometry works and how Python saves huge amounts of time when processing the large amount of data produced by a mass spec analysis.

#Godot
#Videogames
#KeyLUG

Godot You Want To Make A Videogame

What is Godot? It’s an open source game engine for making high quality 2D or 3D videogames! At this Frederick Linux User Group (KeyLUG) presentation, I explained how Godot works, compared it with other popular engines, and showed off some of its features.

#Python
#DEV API
#GitHub Actions

Publish to DEV automatically with GitHub Actions

DEV is a great community for developer content. If you have articles that you don’t want live all at once, how can you publish on a schedule automatically? In this article, we use GitHub Actions to get your content online on your timeline.

#Python
#Docker
#Shiv
#containers

Python alternative to Docker

Are you using Python and thinking about containers to deploy your app? Before you jump to Docker, consider other package formats that may fit better. This article explores one such format from LinkedIn.

#Python
#pytest
#testing

Python Testing 201 with pytest

At Python Frederick this month, I presented on features of pytest to use when testing in Python. We looked at parametrize, test file organization, and fixtures. The recording is up on YouTube.

#Python
#Starlette
#Testing

Quick and dirty mock service with Starlette

Have you ever needed to mock out a third party service for use in a large testing environment? I recently did, and I used Starlette, a new async Python web framework, to do it. See what Starlette offers!

#Patreon
#Twitch
#Articles

On Patreon

Given how much content I put online, I’ve decided to create a Patreon account. If you’d like to financially support me with a few dollars, I’m extremely grateful.

#Git
#GitHub
#Python

Using Git and GitHub to safely store your code

At Python Frederick this month, I presented the fundamentals of Git and GitHub. The recording is up on YouTube and I’ve posted all the material to GitHub.

#Vim
#ripgrep
#search
#replace
#quickfix-reflector

Supercharging Vim: Blazing fast search and global replace

Vim has good built-in search features. We can turn them into great search features and supercharge our workflows with some plugins and settings changes. Learn how to make your searches lightning fast.

#Intermittent fasting
#weight loss

Strategy for developer weight loss

We know that software has No Silver Bullet for solving our problems without effort. The same is true with nutrition and diet. Is there anything developers can do to control their health better even if they are super busy?

#Python
#Pygame
#teaching

Teaching a kid to code with Pygame Zero

How can you excite a kid about computers? One way is through video games! In this article, I’ll focus on my experience teaching my six year old son some programming by using Pygame Zero.

#Python
#Django
#SaaS

Completing Account Deactivation on Building SaaS with Python and Django

In the latest episode of Building SaaS with Python and Django, we completed the account deactivation workflow of the Django app.

#Vim
#CtrlP
#ripgrep
#File navigation

Supercharging Vim: Navigate files instantly

When working on a software project, you have to manage lots of files. If you could navigate to the right file in a couple of keystrokes, how much would that speed up your workflow? In this post, we’ll explore file navigation and a Vim plugin that will boost your browsing!

#Python
#pytest
#testing

Python Testing 101 with pytest

At Python Frederick this month, I presented the fundamentals of testing Python code using pytest. The recording is up on YouTube and I’ve posted all the material to GitHub.

#Python
#Ansible
#Mitogen

Ansible Cranked to 11

On last week’s Twitch stream, I added Mitogen to my Ansible deploy, and it dramatically improved how fast I could deploy to my site.

#SaaS
#Python
#Django

Building SaaS in January

This month on the Building SaaS with Python and Django stream, we covered completing a 3rd party integration, creating admin dashboards, and how to make automation tools to speed up tedious manual tasks. The stream is on Wednesdays at 9pm ET on Twitch.

#Sleep

The Sleepy Developer: How Sleep Affects Your Code

What is the role of sleep in the life of a developer? We’ll look at the importance of sleep and the obstacles preventing devs from getting enough of it.